When my husband and I got married, one of our guests said it was like being at the United Nations. We merged our varied backgrounds – Russian, Swedish, Jewish, Arabic, Irish, and Scottish. Guests were from India, Africa, and China. Although it can get confusing around the holidays, I think my boys are lucky to live in a family rich with such diversity. I love to find things for them that celebrate our individual diversity.

I recently discovered Il Cocco di Mamma, an online boutique that sells products that promote the world’s languages, cultures, and peoples. Donna M. Bottari, who grew up bilingual, founded the company in 2006 when her nephew was born. She has designed a beautiful line of organic cotton T-shirts with sayings such as bella (Italian for beautiful) or il cocco di mamma (Italian for “the apple of your eye” or “pride and joy”).

She also carries popular children’s books translated into many languages. Read The Cat in the Hat in Spanish or Elmer’s Colors in English and Arabic. Her wooden alphabet blocks (my favorite) are available in French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Russian, and Hebrew.

Locally you can find Il Cocco di Mamma signature tees at BAMBINI, 251 South Main Street in Providence.

Anisa Raoof is the publisher of Kidoinfo.com. She combines being a mom with her experience as an artist, designer, psych researcher and former co-director of the Providence Craft Show to create the go-to spot for families in Rhode Island and beyond. She loves using social media to connect parents with family-related businesses and services and promoting ways for parents to engage offline with their kids.
Anisa believes in the power of working together and loves to find ways to collaborate with others. An online enthusiast, still likes to unplug often by reading books and magazines, drawing, learning to knit, making pop-up books with her two sons and listening to records with her husband.